The Best of Times…
By Ozzallos
A Fukufics (dotcom) Production

Part Three

"Oh my.."

Never in history had two words been responsible for conveying so much information as when uttered by Kasumi Tendo, matriarch of the Tendo household. For most people, these words were a subdued exclamation of concern. But to the eldest Tendo sister, they were so much more. She was the keeper of those words and they literally held hundreds of meanings. "Oh my" when voiced by Kasumi could mean anything from "Oh my, the cooking needs a dash of salt" to "Oh my, body snatching aliens have just landed in the yard and are about to employ large quantities of anti-matter weaponry to annihilate the last vestiges of human life from the face of the earth…"

No doubt Ranma Saotome would be responsible for the latter one way or the other, but that was beside the point.

The reality of the situation concerning Kasumi and her "Oh my's " was that she was a lot like Lassy, in that only the trained ear could accurately discern her actual meaning. Where as the casual listener might only hear "Woof! Woof!" Kasumi's sisters would hear "Two divisions of mutant aliens have landed at 12403.51 north by 34011.88 east with heavy tacheon cannons and the insatiable need for human flesh, send help!" This particular "Oh my" however, was midrange, falling somewhere between a mild expression of concern and a call to attention. As such, Nabiki, looked up from the tabloid she had been flipping through on the living room couch and Akane Tendo paused in her aerobic dumbbell workout to stare at the TV. Even Ranma paused on his way up to his room in curiosity. Kasumi turned the TV up slightly as she sipped her tea.

"Tonight's top story is the continuation of Youma attacks centered in the suburb of Tokyo known as Juuban. Reports are still coming in as to the number of injuries, but casualties were once again prevented by the Guardians of Love and Justice, the Sailor Senshi…"

The scene cut from the news anchor to a video clip of said magical girls in the process of annihilating a particularly rampant youma outbreak centered on a crowded market place. Magical attacks lashed out as the scampering demons where eliminated one by one before they could cause too much damage. "Too much damage" was, of course, a relative term when concerning the Senshi given the destructive nature of their intervention, but the cure was normally more acceptable than the disease itself… Which just happened to be unidentifiable demonic aliens that stole peoples souls and rend them limb from limb.

Kasumi sighed. "Maybe I'll be able to get Sailor Moon's autograph one of these days." Akane smirked. Kasumi was a closet Senshi addict with a dresser nearly filled with every publication concerning the heroines of Love and Justice.

"I don't see what's so special about Moon," Akane commented, gaining Kasumi's attention. "Now if you happen stumble across Sailor Mercury's autograph…" While she wasn't the otaku her sister was, there was just something just plain exciting about transforming into a magical girl and fighting demons… As if getting kidnapped by the villain of the month wasn't enough for her. That, and she felt a certain affinity to the Senshi and her short crop of cobalt blue hair.

"Feh." Ranma sniffed. "Sailor Uranus is the best one of the bunch skill wise."

Nabiki arched an eyebrow with an "Oh?" inviting him to continue. He now had the attention of all three sisters.

"Sure, " Ranma continued, heedless of the darkened waters he was wading into. "I mean, everything I've seen says she's at least a dan in Kempo."

"Hmmm…" Kasumi considered throughtfully. "What about Jupiter-san? She seems to know martial arts, and her Supreme thunder attack is quite formidable.'

Ranma shook his head. "True, but Akane could kick her butt , no problem. Besides, what's a bit of lightening compared to a World Shaker?"

"There's her space sword too…" Akane commented, beaming with pride over the fact that Ranma had classified her skill level as better than that of a Sailor Senshi. With that in mind, Jupiter was obviously not a respectable teenage idol.

"'Cides," Ranma continued in a conspiratorial whisper. "Rumor has it that she and Neptune have a 'thing'"

Kasumi blinked and Akane gasped. "You mean she's… a Pervert?" The martial artist nodded.

"Oh my." Kasumi blinked again. "Where did you hear this, Ranma-kun?"

He shrugged. "It was an article in last week's 'Tokyo Candy Teen'." Conversation stopped and an uneasy silence hung in the air as three sisters stared at Akane's fiancée and future brother in law. Ranma's eyes flicked from one sister to the next as he began to comprehend the grievous fax pause he had just committed. "…Not that I'd know anything about stupid magical girls."

"Or teen girls magazines?" Nabiki pointed out helpfully.

"Er… Yeah. Those too." Ranma's face was now glowing red from embarrassment. Akane's mouth was hanging wide open at the prospect of Ranma, manly-man martial artist, being a Sailor Senshi otaku as big as her sister and collecting teen girl tabloids. Either way, it spelled "Pervert' with a capital 'P'.

Kasumi considered the boy in front of her thoughtfully. "Would you mind if I borrowed that issue, Ranma-kun?"

Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything goes School of Martial Arts twitched. Violently. "Oh, look at the time! Gotta go!"

Nabiki could only grin as the pigtailed boy existed the house post haste. Ah, it's the simple pleasures in life…

Ranma blew through another kata on a hillside some distance away from his usual stomping grounds. The purpose was two fold, in reality-- First, it provided and outlet for the terminal case of embarrassment he had just suffered only an hour ago. Second, he needed the practice. The martial artist flipped around and the cresent blade of the Gekkaja cut through the air. In the opposite hand was the Kinjakan, its lethal ring tip flashing in the sunlight as he snapped it toward a boulder. The ring sliced through the air, missed the boulder and behead several trees before returning to it station on the staff tip with a snap.

Damn.

The martial artist sighed. He was definitely going to have to put in overtime if he was going to be able to competently wield both staves simuaneously. Using one at a time would undoubtably be easier, he realized, but the potential both held when used in tandem was simply to great to ignore. In his hands he held the powers of fire and ice, two elements with which he had been well schooled in over the past two and a half years. The potential these two weapons held alone was enormous, but if he could build a style that used them together… Be that as it may, it wasn't the primary reason he had pulled the staves out of storage. His plan concerning the Pluto was simple—Infiltrate the Sailor Senshi and cause her grief to no end until she either confront him or backed off. For that, his girl-type needed a costume. Ranma Saotome really wasn't looking forward to that particular aspect of his plan, but posing as a female Senshi constituted a formidable tactical advantage that he simply couldn't pass up, especially when he could do so without The Meddler's knowledge.

As horrid as it was, the costume was the easy part, but she also needed a prop to go with it. Every magical girl carried around a magical weapon, and for the deception to work, he'd have to as well. Or she'd have to, rather. He'd already considered buying a length of iron piping, spray painting it and call it a magical staff, but decided against the idea. No, Ranma needed the real thing, or at least something similar. Saffron's Keys of Ascention were the only things he had that would even come close to fitting the bill, and the only question now would be which one would he choose? Either way, he'd keep practicing the dual wield method. Maybe whip both out in an emergency… Or to lay some smackdown on a certain green-haired Senshi if it came to that.

Ranma launched into another kata, attempting to refine his flowing ring striking technique when the decision of which staff to use was made for him. Ranma flicked the Kinjakan outward and the ring whistled away at high speed, carving a piece out of the targeted boulder with something less than a direct hit. Even as Ranma tumbled, slicing forward with the Gekkaja, the ring arced on back to its owner. His arms crossed in a final lunge forward and the ring snapped back into place as both staves now pointed off to his sides, poised to cleave the rock directly in front of the pigtailed boy. Ranma powered up with determination, preparing to obliterate the offending boulder when it happened-- Something in both staves felt the power and one recognized the other through the link that was Ranma's ki. The keys were the polar opposites to one another, yet less than a handful of people in existance knew their true form. The keys activated and Ranma 's cross-cleave was superceded as the staves pulled toward one another. His eyes widened as the power coursed through him and between the weapons, while it was all he could do to follow through with the chop and keep the ends from joining. The attraction was too great and Ranma 's cross-grip failed to keep the staves from snapping together in a blinding flash that sent him tumbling off balance. The martial artist pushed himself back off the ground and waited for his vision to clear. What he found in his hands after it did, however, defied belief.

The staves plural were no more. In their place was a meter long silver staff with elements of each key imbedded at either end. On one end sat the Kinjakan's lethal ring.. At the other was the Gekkaja's crescent blade. Ranma cocked his head, considering the transformed weapon resting in his hands. Now THIS is more like it, Ranma thought and twirled the staff easily. He set up for another kata, determined to carve up the countryside with his new toy.

It was late in the day when Ranma finally stumbled through the door. The groan that escaped his lips ensured all eyes were riveted to his person. It helped that his clothing was in complete shambles.

"What the hell happened to you, boy?" Genma asked as he watched his son trudged by.

"New technique." The boy in question winced, pausing before the family. Akane was thinking about malleting him for being a Senshi Otaku girlie Magazine loving freak, but noticed that particular job had already been self-inflicted.

"Some move," She snorted, observing the numerous cuts and lacerations across her fiancee's body. "Remind me not to learn that one."

Ranma favored her with a dry look and turned to trudge up stairs when a slight cough caused him to pause once more. "Ranma-kun, I was wondering if I could also borrow issue #132 of 'Sakura Go! Now!'?"

Akane twitched, a scowl spreading across her face. Genma's eyes narrowed onto him sharply. "What's this, Boy?"

Ranma's eyes widened suddenly as he focused on the eldest Tendo sister. "Um, Kasumi…?"

""I must say, your Senshi collection is almost as big as mine." Kasumi mentioned with an oblivious smile. "We might have to start trading off."

"How did you…?"

"Cleaning your room." She replied happily. Truth be told, she had to engaged in some 'deep' cleaning in order to find out where he was storing his collection and just how big it actually was. Kasumi was pleasantly surprised by her find.

"As in the Sailor Senshi?" His father growled, and took a step forward. Nodoka pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to decide whether his Senshi obsession was good in the fact that he was attracted to the harem of magical girls or bad as pertaining to his concering purchase of teen girls publications.

Ranma hung his head, now thoroughly depressed. "Sure. Why not. After my bath." Kasumi nodded and he struggled to ignore the remaining family's staring as he walked up stairs, sliding open the guest room door. He took a step in and froze, locking onto the dozens upon dozens of glittering eyes.

"Meow."

"AHHHHARAaaaAAARR!" Ranma scampered back as a small black and white cat hopped forward from the masses, eager to make his acquaintance. The pigtailed boy hit the wall and began to run down the hall where Nuku Nuku had just stepped out of the bathroom in little more than a towel, curious as to the sudden commotion. Her face lit up in a smile as she saw Ranma practically leaping towards her, the towel falling away as she reached out to embrace him "Husband Ranma-kun!" He plowed strait into the cat girl, knocking her nude body over and landing both in a very compromising position, where upon the remaining contingent of cats poured out of the room and swarmed over the pair.

"GET EM OFF! GET EM OFF! CAAAaaaAAAATTTSSS!"

Half a dimension away, Setsuno Meiou was laughing hysterically as the scene played out in front of her. The cats alone were great, but even she couldn't have planned him running strait into the nude cat-girl! The Guardian of Time broke out into another roun fit of laughter, clutching her side in pain.

God, payback wasn't simply a bitch, it was therapeutic as well!

"Home plate, this is Outfield… We have the target."

"Roger Outfield," Kyouko keyed the mic in response. "Which one is it?"

"Both. Awaiting instructions." Officer Kyouko considered the reply carefully. Teams two and five were in position, but she had only been expecting the new type android, not pink-haired one as well.

"Alright," she decided. "Team one, move to five's flank for fire support." The blonde switched channels. "Ready Ris-chan?"

Two blocks away, Arisa steadied the fifty caliber anti-vehical sniper rifle along the rooftop ledge. The salary woman squinted through the scope, focusing its crosshairs down on the pigtailed android walking along a fence top. Below him was a girl with shorter, cobalt blue hair and beside her, the NK 1124, otherwise known as Nuku Nuku. She tilted the rifle slightly and the crosshairs now came to rest on Nuku. Choices, choices… "Ready Sa-chan."

There was a slight pause over the com. "Remember, incapacitate only… NO headshots."

Arisa grumbled and nudged the crosshairs off the cat-girl's head. "Fine, fine! Ruin my fun…"

Back in the nondescript plain white van sitting just outside Fruikan High, Kyouko keyed the general channel once more. "All units, go, no go?"

"Armor one, go."

"Armor two, go."

"Heavy weapons five, go."

"Sniper, go."

Kyouko nodded, glancing at a tech manning the console beside her. He gave her the thumbs up and she smiled. "Fire teams, lock and load."

"Relinquish thy hold on the pigtailed goddess, evil sorcerer!" Tatewake Kuno demanded of Ranma with the point of his bokken.

"Look, baka, I've had a super bad weekend, so why don't you—"

"What's this!" The upper classman interrupted and rushed to the girl at Ranma's side. "How has thee been so blessed as to perceive the visage of a pink haired Goddess! What is your given name, fair maiden?"

Ranma rolled his eyes and the girl flashed a look of uncertainty. "Nuku Nuku?"

"AH!" The deranged student exclaimed. "I shall date thee, my pink goddess!" Ranma bit his retort back. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. The less time spent around cat girl, the better, and Kuno would surely occupy—

"No."

Ranma and Kuno's head rolled on a swivel to face the girl in question. "No?"

"I date my husband, Ranma!" She chirped happily. Ranma's twitch like reflexes around cat-grils were not fast enough to compensate for the robotic cat-girl's glomp. He ground his teeth together, biting back the fear.

"HUSBAND?" Kuno raged. "Is there no end to your wickedness, Saotome!" The body of students around them rippled in agreement and the hentai horde stepped forward menacingly. Normally the mob wouldn't think to challenge Nerima's premier martial artist, but one can only take the usurping of so many beautiful women from their ranks. "I shall NOT allow this, Fien--!"

BOOOOoooMMM!

The far wall disintegrated in a massive fireball, and three suits of red power armor stepped through the smoldering ruins. "Not again…" Ranma groused as all eyes turned on the newcomers. If those corporate freaks- and Setsuna by proxy -kept this up, they'd drive him insane. Or… Ranma's thought process cut into overdrive. "You got it wrong, Kuno!" The upperclassman tore his attention away from the advancing suits. "I'm trying to protect her… From THOSE GUYS!"

Kuno blinked. "Verily…? What foul designs have they upon my pink goddess?"

"They uh…" Ranma stumbled through the explanation, making it up as he went. "They plan to, um, clone her and use her to pilot a, um, a giant robot against hideous super-powered monsters! She'll be a slave!"

"No…!"

"Yes! And if she's killed, they'll simply clone her again…" Ranma sure hoped his look of mock horror did the trick. He needn't have worried.

"…Thereby sentencing the fair pink-haired maiden to a life of un-death and servitude!" Kuno finished, fire flashing in his eyes. He strode to the front of the horde, pointing his sword high. "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!"

Akane, Nabiki and Ranma stared at one another in total disbelief, the same thought running through their brains simultaneously: "Oh my God, I can't believe he actually fell for that."

"Your trespasses shall not stand, foul mechanized demons!" Kuno fumed and took an attack stance. The horde stood at the ready, tennis rackets, hockey sticks, baseball bats and other assorted sports equipment in hand. "Furikan shall not abide by your presence! CHARGE!"

Ranma's mouth fell open. He wasn't alone as the Tendo's witnessed what amounted to a good old-fashioned infantry charge against the three suits of power armor. Ranma would have loved to sit and watch the inevitable attrition take place, but soon found his hands full with other matters. Another wall exploded and three more suits appeared out of nowhere, walking towards them. Ranma cracked his knuckles with a smile, and both Akane and Nuku took their own battle stances on his flank.

"Trust me, this'll hurt you more than it will…"

A massive thud shook the ground, interrupting Ranma's monologue. The front gate into the school had just been crushed by a Mishima Heavy Industries Madcat battle mech, which now stepped halfway onto the school grounds. The torso swung around, allowing Ranma and company to clearly see the business ends three pulse lasers hanging from each arm, while two boxes of forty short range missiles rode high upon shoulder mounts. The ground shook once more as the massive construct took another step forward.

"…me?" Ranma sighed and began to seriously reconsider that oath as a martial artist, especially concerning one Sailor Pluto. One of the mech's arms raised to fire and Nuku Nuku was already gone, leaping high into the air and down heavily onto the arm, knocking it's first round of energy fire away. The errant blast torched a portion of the soccer field and Nuku continued her assault on the machine. Ranma shrugged, turning back to the trio of power armor. The first suit raised its own weapon, a wrist mounted particle cannon, and the martial artists blurred in under the arm to unleashing nearly five hundred strikes into it armored midsection in under three seconds. The plating cracked and the suit was blown back and through an undamaged section of wall. Ranma recovered from the strike and a blue glow began to form in his hand. The second suit desperately tried to wheel around, but there was no way he would intercept the attack in time….

A blonde woman watched her display in shock as suit three from team two suddenly went yellow with damage. The shock deepened as the computer reported the Madcat's left weapons arm critically damaged, followed by several sections of armor. Team one looked to be faring better, but the helmet cam Kyouko pulled up showed them wading through a mob of hostile bodies. Dammit, they shouldn't be encountering this much resistance at a school!

Kyouko keyed the mic. "Snipers free! Take the androids out!" her command was followed by a sharp crack, shortly followed by another. And another. Five shots later, a giant sweat drop rolled down her head. "I said sniping, not suppression fire!"

Arisa was not a happy camper as she cracked another fifty caliber bullet downrange and into the afterimage of her pigtailed target. Again. "WHAT THE HELL?" Nothing should be able to move that damn fast! The rifle clicked empty and she released the clip, slapping another home automatically. She began to line up the mark once more as it wove between the three powered suits that made up Team two. The android's first victim had rejoined the battle, slightly worse for the wear and luckily the odds were still in their fav—Another flash of light and one of the suits was blown into a crater twenty feet away. The smoke cleared and it became evident that either the pilot or his suit were out. Arisa sneered and decided to Nuku was probably the better- read: easier -target. The pink haired robot wasn't much better as it flipped around and over the massive frame of the Madcat, denying it any sort of targeting opportunity against herself or her cohorts. The cat-girl landed on the arm once more and Arisa took her shot. Or shots, rather. All three missed and dug into the weapons arm, which promptly fell to the ground and onto a nondescript white van with a crunch.

"Oh no, I did not just do that…"

An hour later, the grounds had finally gone silent, save the occasional moan of wounded here and there. Ranma gave the suit of power armor at his feet and the occupant inside a kick before turning his attention elsewhere. It had been a true battle royal, he observed, scanning the carnage. He had dispatched two suits of armor himself while the third had strayed too close to Akane. Nearly everything the girl threw at the suit missed, but it only took one hit from the enraged girl to put the thing out of commission. Nuka Nuka had done quite well on her own, severely damaging the giant robot before Ryoga stumbled into the battle, saw Akane in danger and finished the thing off with his Breaking Point technique.

The Kuno infantry charge didn't fare quite so well, though the Hentai Horde came away victorious none the less. It wasn't the horde's speed or skill that finally won the skirmish, but their staying power. After a few years of being beaten down by Akane Tendo, their 'never say die' attitude finally wore the suits out, completely depleting them of power cells before the last student collapsed.

Their valiant leader was struck down in the first five minutes, however.

The school itself was a disaster area. Any building not reduced to component rumble were undoubtedly on fire or had a large hole in them as the paramedics circled around to treat the wounded. Given the amount of firepower employed by their unknown opponents, casualties were surprisingly nonexistent. This was probably due to the hardened nature of both the structures themselves and the students. Besides, what better place to stage an all out land war then at a school who saw similar events on a regular basis? Any student that couldn't handle the punishment already had the brains or experience to get the hell out of Dodge before everything hit the fan. Word had already spread that The Battle of Kuno had succeeded in putting the school out of commission for at least two months, which was fine with Ranma.

After all, the pigtailed martial artist had things to do, places to go and people to see. Especially people to see.

The Box.

The shape was one to be feared as Ranma stared at the object lying on his futon. Truth be told, it wasn't necessarily the box that was to be feared, but what was inside the box. Inside the box was a man's worst nightmare beyond those of feline origin… Femininity. Pure, undistilled feminity in the form of a Sailor Senshi fuku. It was manly kryptonite to be sure, but Ranma had few choices left available at the moment. It was obvious that Pluto was stepping up her operations against him, and at the pace she was setting, Ranma had no doubts that he would go insane inside six months. He took another sweep of the house to make sure everybody had well and truly departed for the beach and tore open the dark pink paper wrapping.

Even as he lifted the top off, Ranma addressed the other issues that would need taken care of, like that of a code name. All the Senshi had a magical girl name, so his alter ego was going to have to have one as well. Not only that, but if he was going to interact with them normally, his girl-type was going to have to need a new name as well. No way would he risk dropping "Ranko" around ol' Pluto either. No reason to give her a link back to the Tendos or potentially jar her memory suddenly. Ranma unfolded the dark red and white fuku from the box and clinically admired the tailoring job. Better that then dwell on the fact that he was about to try the damn thing on, right? Also in the box were white and red trimmed elbow length gloves with almost knee-high boots to match. The final item was a white gold tiara with a polished imitation ruby set in the center. All in all, worth every penny he paid for the outfit… If he were actually into that sort of thing to begin with. As it was, the fact that he was even holding the outfit in his hands was just this side of disturbing, so he rectified that problem with a quick trip to the bathroom and returned as a she. Ranma picked the fuku back up and shook her head. Nope, still disturbing as hell. She really wasn't looking forward to this. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time either. At least this time it would be for the greater good, as opposed to being blackmailed into playing dressup.

Steeling herself, Ranma slipped out of her Chinese silks and into the frilly costume, noting it was a lot like a leotard. Not that the fact made her feel any better, especially when this particular leotard was quite frilly and quite revealing. It was also horribly sad that she knew what a leotard felt like in the first place.The seemstress even had the foresight to build in a bra. Yay. She slid the boots on first, then the gloves, noting that it was all horribly tight. Obviously the suits had originally been designed by a child molester or somebody with a similarly perverted hang-up. Lastly came the tiara. Ranma stepped in front of the mirror and blinked.

"Wow... I make this look good…" she mumbled and spun around, viewing herself from every angle. The skirt itself was a dark crimson red with the upper body being pure white, while orange bow straddling her breasts. The girl in the mirror still looked too much like Ranma though, so the pigtail had to go. She untied the dragon whisker and her hair floated down to her shoulders, totally altering her appearance. Ranma nodded. That'll do. Now a name to go with the face. Tough one, that. The Senshi had already taken all of the planets and she sure as hell wasn't going to settle for a mere moon…. Hmmm… Sailor Nebula? Nah. Comet? Nope. Meteor? Uh-uh. Dammit… Sailor Sun? Weak. Ranma struck a pose in front of the mirror as she mulled over the question. Something that represents massive, overwhelming power… Sailor Death Star? Ehhh… Overwhelming power… Overwhelming power…

"Sailor Nova."

Ranma smiled as she said the name aloud, then pulled the fused Key of Ascension from weapons space so that she could view the entire package. Her mouth hung open slightly. She was an honest to goodness goddamn magical girl! She brought a knuckle to her lips. Now her alter ego would need a name. 'Ranko' was too hot to touch with a ten-foot pole for this operation, so she would need something else. After a few shots in the dark and a magazine later, she pieced together the name Yumei Ikari, if only because she liked how it rolled off the tongue.

Ranma's ki sense pinged and she knew somebody familiar was coming home. Her maximum range was about two miles for general detection, which gave her several minutes before anybody hit the front door. Now the last part—Transforming. She had given the matter considerable thought and there was no way she could duplicate a magical girl transformation outright. Nor would she want to, given their propensity towards gratuitous nudity. But that's where the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts Speed Dressing came into play. When combined with a flash of blinding ki generated light, Ranma was back in her Chinese garb less than two seconds later while the Sailor Nova uniform and Ascension Staff were neatly tucked away in weapons space. The front door clicked open and Ranma knew the Tendo's day at the beach had concluded. Ranma bound her hair with the whisker as footsteps serperated from the downstairs chatter. Ranma poked his head out of his room to see who was coming up stairs.

"Oh hey, Ranma." Nabiki greeted easily and turned toward her room. "Did you hear…" She stopped in front of her door, voice suddenly trailing off. She turned toward the redhead with a queer expression on her face and walked back over, holding out her hand. "Two thousand yen."

Ranma studied the sister for a moment and decided that the expression she wore was so unusual that she had to bite, slapping a couple bills into her hand. Nabiki blinked and reached up to the girl's forehead, pulling off a white gold tiara. Ranma's eyes widened suddenly and she snatched the prop back, stammering desperately.

Nabiki shook her head. "Forget it, Saotome. I really don't even want to know this time." With that, she returned to her room mumbling something to herself.

"Burning Mandala!"

A burning line of flame trailed from Sailor Mars' fingers as she whipped around, creating eight balls of fire that pulsed around her before collapsing into a waiting hand. The energy than condensed, incenerating the wayward youma via magical burning rings of death. Rei Hino allowed herself a slight smile, but the joy was short lived. One down, seven more to go.

"Where the heck did they all come from, Mercury!" Sailor Venus cried out as she was being double teamed by two of the unengaged monstrosities. The orange and white clad blonde called forth her attack, and the glowing chain of hearts tore into one of her opponents. It wasn't a lethal blow, but creature was far less eager to press its advantage in numbers. Like most youma, these vaguely resembled something female, but their appendages seemed to be long and stringy, while their arms ended in sharp, boney sword points. The skin rippled a sickly grayish-pink and what would have been hair jetted along their backs in a spikey mane that was as solid as the bone-tips. Venus' more eager opponent happily rushed in to skewer the Senshi, who hopped back outside engagement range. She whipped the Love Me Chain outward once more and convinced the second beast to give her some breathing room.

The wounded one reconsidered its options and charged, only to be impaled by some Moon Tiara Action courtesy of Sailor Moon. Its victim tumbled to the ground and evaporated on the spot. Venus gave her a nod and re-engaged her second opponent.

Mercury sent a pillar of water crashing into a lone youma and pulled out her link to the Mercury computer. It was good question she decided and began to scan for anything anything unsusal. Beyond the fact that youma were apparently being bred like jackrabbits in this particular area of town, that is. "I've got traces of the porthole they rode in on, but it's too decayed to know where it came from…"

By the time Sailor Mercury looked up from the link, three youma had managed break past Usagi and Minako to close on her position. She frowned. "Uh oh… Um, guys…?"

The attack was simultaneous and she knew there was nowhere near the time needed to power up a Shabon Spray. Mercury prepared to roll away when a flaming incandescent ring whistled out of the blue sky, neatly decapitating all three youma as it continued through a tight arc. "What the…?" That was definitely not a Moon Tiara! Her eyes tracked the disk through the sky and over to a nearby roof top where it was recovered by Sailor…

"Who the heck is that!" Mercury exclaimed at the sight. The other three Senshi disengaged and took a good look at the girl on high, who had just dispatched three youma in a single attack. The stranger then proceed to flip through the air and land lightly next to Inners, who could only stare at the newcomer.

"Su-Su-Sugoi…" Mercury stammered, and for once, Moon was able to produce a more intelligent question than her counterpart.

"Who… Who are you?"

A lopsided grin found its way to the redhead's face. "I'm here to get this party started." Nova twirled the exotic staff expertly in her hand, walking past the group and over to the remaing youma, who were still somewhat stunned that they had lost 1/3rd of their total strength in a single attack. "Who wants some?" The monster's beady little eyes began to flick back and forth. Escape was looking like a mighty good option at the moment. The volatile stellar anomaly got tired of waiting. "You." She pointed the crescent blade at the tallest creature. "You want some."

Before the youma could in some way deny that it wanted any, Ranma gave it to her, blurring forward in burst of speed that left an after image in her wake. The Sailors at her back gaped collectively. The crescent imbedded itself into the youma's torso point three seconds later, turning its chest cavity into a solid block of ice. Sailor Nova reversed the staff in distorted arc, cleaving the mass in two with the bladed ring. The ice crumbled and what remained of the youma promply disintegrated, sending its essence back to monster hell. The strike continued into the monster on her right, feed power into the ring and causing it to burst into flames. Two chops later, nothing remained of Nova's victim save a pile of ash.

The third youma actually had the common sense to work on its strategic withdraw, and the new Senshi brought her staff back, ready to introduce it to ringed death. She never got the chance as her target was suddenly interdicted by a sizable amount of firepower. The four Inners cut loose at once, vaporizing it and a large chunk of the realistate the youma had been running across. Sailor Nova blinked at the smoldering crater and shrugged, turning back toward the Senshi.

This time, Mercury had a better handle on what she wanted to ask the new Senshi. "WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?" She blurted and the redhead produced a mischievous smile.

"I'm Sailor Nova. Sorry about this." She answered, and abruptly disappeared before their very eyes.

Author's Notes-
I'm telling you, this is getting more and more fun to write with each chapter in. it's all I can do to keep from cackling maniacally as I type. Not much here, so strait to the notes.

Key of Ascension, Ascension Staff, etc- These are my working names for the fusion that occured between the Kinjakan and Gekkaja, if only because it accurately describes the function of both concerning their late owner, Saffron. This fusion maintains the original abilities of both keys.

Special Thanks to pretty much anybody in the Fukufics (dotcom) IRC chatroom in the clast 24 hours. I owe 'em for the help with some of the people places and things I was unsure of, as well as inspiration. Thanks, peeps!

Changes- v2: Spelling, grammar. v3: Venus' fuku is ORANGE!